The Royal Oak public house, St Mary's, Oldham

Summary

Public house. Early-mid C19 origins with a 1872 extension and re-fronting (incorporating the front elevations of the two single-storey properties on the left-hand side which did not form part of the assessment), and 1928-1929 refitting of pub interior. The Royal Oak's single-storey extension in the rear yard does not form part of the listing.

Description

Public house. Early-mid C19 origins with a 1872 extension and re-fronting (incorporating the front elevations of the two single-storey properties on the left-hand side which did not form part of the assessment), and 1928-1929 refitting of pub interior. The single-storey extension in the rear yard does not form part of the listing.

MATERIALS: darker red hand-made bricks and orange machine-made bricks, sandstone dressings, a slate roof.

PLAN: the public house was comprehensively refitted in 1928. There are a number of rooms arranged around a curved bar servery. The main entrance from Union Street has an inner lobby with a doorway on the right-hand side opening into the vault, with a hatch opening onto the servery, and an inner lavatory (no longer in use). The inner lobby opens into the lounge hall containing the curved servery and a staircase to the rear up to the first-floor function room. Opening off the left-hand side is the front Commercial Room and smaller, rear Snug, now knocked into one room. On the Rhodes Bank, side, elevation a narrow doorway opens into the off-sales, with a hatch opening onto the servery and a doorway on the right-hand side opening into the lounge hall. There is also landlord’s accommodation on the first and second floors (not inspected).

EXTERIOR
The pub stands at the east end of Union Street at the junction with Rhodes Bank on the south side of the road. It is a corner building at the right-hand end of a short row of three-storey buildings. The pub is of three bays and three storeys with a partial cellar and shares its front elevation with the two single-bay properties on the left-hand side (not part of the assessment).

The pub’s front elevation is built of orange brick in Flemish bond with a sandstone plinth. It has a slate roof which is hipped to its outer, right-hand side and shared with the two bays to the left-hand side of the pub. There are two, truncated brick ridge stacks. The ground floor has a central, round-headed doorway with recessed brick jambs and ashlar voussoirs with a giant, shaped keystone, moulded stone hoodmould and double stringcourse of slightly projecting bricks. It has a timber door of a shaped fielded-panel over two fielded-panels. Above is a plain, semi-circular overlight. To each side is a wide window with an ashlar frame with a moulded sill and dentil frieze and cornice over. The timber window frames have a large lower pane with a horizontal row of three smaller panes over. The left-hand window has etched glass to the lower pane with the name ROYAL OAK. Both windows have leaded upper panes with a stained glass landscape across the panes. The central casement panes have an oak tree and crown and metal top hinges. The outer, right-hand corner at ground-floor level is curved with a corbelled out angled corner above. The bays on the two upper floors are separated by indented piers. The first floor has three tall, square-headed windows with stone sills and lintels with similar, shorter windows on the second floor. The windows all have a row of cogged bricks beneath the sills and there is a double stringcourse of slightly projecting bricks at lintel level on both floors. The window frames are two-over-two pane horned sashes; the panes on the second floor have geometric leading. There is a moulded timber eaves band.

The Rhodes Bank side elevation has been partially rebuilt. The brickwork of the front elevation wraps round the left-hand corner, and the ground floor and full height of the right-hand corner are built of darker hand-made bricks in English garden wall bond. The remaining wall is built of orange brick in English garden wall bond. On the ground floor is a narrow, round-headed doorway with two stone steps, stone jambs, impost blocks with oval rosettes, a moulded arch with giant keystone and a three-panelled timber door with a plain, semi-circular overlight. To the left are two irregular, square-headed windows with stone sills and lintels, and timber window frames with top-hinged upper casements. To the right is a wider window, which is similar to those on the ground floor of the front elevation, although with plainer stone sill and lintel. The timber window frame has the same large lower pane and horizontal row of three smaller panes over with the same stained glass scene and central casement pane. The first and second floors have irregularly placed, square-headed windows with concrete lintels and two-pane uPVC frames. On the right-hand side of the first floor are two small WC windows with stone sills and lintels, and timber two-pane casements. There was a similar window above on the second floor which is now blocked.

The rear elevation is built of darker hand-made bricks except for the right-hand bay which is built of orange brick. There are various irregularly placed, two-over-two pane sash windows. On the first floor is a round-headed stair window with patterned geometric leaded and stained glass.

The single-storey, flat-roofed extension containing a kitchen and WCs does not form part of the listing.

INTERIOR
Many fixtures and fittings from the 1928 scheme survive, including the mahogany full-height, semi-circular, projecting servery in the lounge hall. It has a moulded counter supported on shaped console brackets with pilasters and shaped, fielded panels to the lower section. Piers rise to a moulded cornice with counter sash window screens with etched glass which can be raised for service. The back of the servery has a mahogany hatch with a similar etched counter sash screen opening into the vault (now called lounge). A smaller mahogany hatch with etched counter sash screen opens into the off-sales to the side. It also has a moulded counter supported on shaped console brackets with a shaped, fielded panel below. Other fixtures and fittings include doors and architraves, wall tiles, fireplaces and staircase. The right-hand side of the off-sales is separated from the lounge hall by a mahogany partition with fielded panels, upper lights of etched glass, and a mahogany door with a fielded lower panel and diamond-sectioned, etched glazing to the upper half. The off-sales floor has diagonal black and white tiles and the left-hand side has square wall tiles in pink with green upper and lower borders and a narrow checked upper band of yellow and purple. Similar wall tiles remain in the main entrance lobby off Union Street, and in the lounge hall on the east wall, the north-east corner (next to the partition screen), and part of the south wall separating the lounge hall from the left-hand rooms with the tiles continuing up the stairs. The lounge hall has fixed seating against the west wall and curved round the south-west corner. Two doorways open into the left-hand rooms with timber architraves with diamond-pointed corners. Adjacent is the timber staircase with a square newel post with diamond-pointed decoration and semi-circular finial, moulded handrail with squared and moulded balusters, and shaped cheeks.

The main entrance off Union Street has an inner lobby with an upper horizontal light with a leaded and stained glass swag above the inner double doors, which are in the manner of the partition doorway (in the position of the revolving door shown on the 1928 plan). On the right-hand side of the lobby is a doorway into the vault (lounge) with a timber architrave with diamond-pointed corners and a mahogany panelled door with diamond-sectioned etched glazing. The vault has fixed seating with a draught screen, and a small fireplace with mahogany Art Nouveau mantelpiece. A three-panelled door with architrave opens into the (now - 2018 - unused) lavatory. The room has a red quarry-tile floor with a narrow black border and white wall tiles with black skirting and cornice tiles and upper black and white chevron tile bands.

The two left-hand rooms, both with moulded cornices, have been knocked into one. The front half has fixed seating. The rear half has a window similar to those in the front elevation with etched glass to the large, lower pane and three smaller panes over (the left-hand pane replaced and lacking stained glass).

The staircase balustrade changes at the half landing lit by the stair window. The return flight of stairs has a turned timber balustrade with a ball finial, timber handrail and square, stick balusters.

The first floor has three-panelled doors with small, leaded lights and architraves with diamond-pointed corners. The function room has a moulded cornice, half timbering and two fireplaces with timber mantelpieces. There is a similarly detailed servery as the ground floor with a counter sash screen. The lavatory has two WCs with painted timber partitions with three-panelled doors.

The landlord's private accommodation on the first and second floors was not inspected.

History

Oldham developed as a highly industrialised town during the C19, driven by the manufacturing of cotton textiles. The Royal Oak is said to have been originally built in 1823 by William Knott, a cotton waste and cotton dealer. An 1829 directory notes the pub, a warehouse, a brew house and a stable. By 1833 Thomas Inman, an earthernware dealer and stonemason had the licence for the Royal Oak, and around 1840 the licence passed to Thomas Littlewood, a machine broker, who moved from the Blacksmiths Arms on Royton Street (Rochdale Road). He bought the pub and it remained in his family until at least 1894. The 1:10,560 OS map surveyed 1844 to 1845, published in 1848, shows an angled corner building standing at the junction of Union Street and a curved road called Rhodes Bank, with a smaller building on its east side. It is identified as The Royal Oak Inn on the 1851 1:1,056 OS Town Plan.

Plans dated 1872 suggest that the Royal Oak may have been rebuilt to incorporate the bay previously occupied by the smaller building and at the same time two single-bay shops were built on the east side. The architect was a T Mitchell. The plans show the pub with a partial basement on the east side, a central entrance off Union Street with a room identified as a bar parlour to each side, a stair to the rear and a rear bar parlour and a snug. There was a secondary entrance off Rhodes Bank (then called Gas Street) separating two angled tap rooms. The 1879 1:500 OS Town Plan shows the pub and adjoining properties; a separate brew house is shown in the pub yard. Differences in brickwork suggest that while part of the side and rear elevations date from the original building, the entire front elevation, including the two shop properties, was refaced, and the rear wall of the additional bay was built in-line with the original rear pub wall. Part of the side elevation has also been rebuilt.

Plans dated 26th July 1928 were approved for a major refurbishment of the pub interior by architects C T Taylor, Roberts & Bowman of 10 Clegg Street, Oldham. The pre-existing plan showed the bar servery on the inner side of the right-hand front room, identified as the vault. This was replaced by a curved bar servery and the rear bar parlour and kitchen (originally the larger tap room) were knocked together to form a large lounge hall with a separate off-sales with a doorway in the side elevation. The main entrance is shown with an inner revolving door. The position of the rear staircase, the two front rooms (now identified as the Commercial Room and the Vault) and the rear left-hand room (identified as the snug) did not change, although the front windows and the fittings were changed. The smaller, triangular tap room became a lavatory for the vault with a WC and urinal. At the rear of the building the brew house was replaced by separate men’s and women’s WCs and WC and urinals covered by a glass roof, and a kitchen was built in the yard. On the first floor was a full-width function room with a bar servery. Approved plans by the same architects’ practice dated 6 February 1929 show that the first-floor function room was extended into the right-hand rear room and women’s WCs replaced a bathroom in the rear, angled corner. On the second floor a store room in the same position was altered to provide a bathroom for the four bedrooms.

Subsequently, the glass roof over the yard and the women’s yard WCs have been removed and the WCs have been rearranged to incorporate the former scullery and roofed over with a flat roof. An external fire escape has been added to the rear.

Reasons for Listing

The Royal Oak public house, Oldham, of early-mid C19 origins with a 1872 extension and re-fronting, and 1928-1929 refitting of pub interior by architects C T Taylor, Roberts & Bowman of 10 Clegg Street, Oldham, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:
* A largely complete inter-war scheme with high-quality fixtures and fittings in both craftmanship and materials, using polished mahogany and etched and stained glass;
* The impressive curved servery with counter sash screens is particularly notable and is complemented by a second servery with sash screens in the first-floor function room, and many other fixtures and fittings such as the staircase, doors, architraves, floor and wall tiles, fixed seating and fireplaces.

Historic Interest:
* As a C19 urban public house with considerable investment in the inter-war period to completely refit the interior and improve the respectability and facilities to attract a wider range of clientele;
* The pub largely retains its inter-war plan form with a central, curved servery around which rooms are arranged, the rare survival of an intact off-sales, and a large, upstairs function room.

External Links

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